The big mobile news from Opera today was the release of version 8.65 of their mobile browser. Today the browser was made available to existing owners, as well as carriers and OEMs. Opera Mobile 8.65 is the company’s lightweight browser for Windows Mobile devices (both smartphones and pocket PCs), though it also works with S60 devices. The browser was released as a free 30-day, after which it will cost $24.

Version 8.65 includes a number of features which were not seen in the previous version, 8.60. Some of the highlights, according to Opera, include Flash Lite 2.1, Pocket PC support for Flash Player 7, image saving, copying text/links, send link as SMS/MMS/email, and the ability to import favorites from Internet Explorer. A changelog from 8.60 has also been posted for those interested in bug fixes and updates.

Opera 8.65 will function as an alternative to Internet Explorer Mobile, which is Windows Mobile’s default browser. The upgrade price means that Opera is competing against something that is included with the operating system but this one month trial will give people a chance to test out the browser and see if they prefer the experience to that of IE.

We had a chance to put Opera 8.65 through its paces on an HTC Advantage X7501 (using WiFi) in Windows Mobile 6. Opera 8.65 was installed and browser performance was tested for speed and rendering against IE. During testing Opera was not only faster but also rendered a more usable page than with IE. The difference in time was generally enough to be noticeable, often significantly so. This was especially true on the Advantage, which has a much larger screen and is more powerful than the typical Windows Mobile device. The performance results were replicated on a Sprint Mogul (HTC PPC-6800) where Opera was faster and more stable than IE.

One of the important changes in 8.65 features Opera’s handling of Flash. The inclusion of Flash Lite 2.1 and Flash 7 support will allow for access to many common Flash instances. Flash support in mobile browsing still has a long way to go, but this release marks a strong step forward for Opera.

Opera 8.65 is available today for download and purchase if you are interested. The only downside of the trial is that if you grow attached to the browser you will have to eventually purchase it. At $24 it won’t break the bank, but if you spent a lot of time browsing the web from your phone or if you need to visit pages that are not mobile-friendly, it could be a great upgrade.

There are also some side-by-side pictures of the same site rendered on the different browsers and a bit about stability (while running the tests, Minimo crashed 11 times!).

JoelGeek

Good stuff. Thanks for the link, pocketables. I have found that Opera is the first download that I perform on just about any device these days. These guys definitely know their way around the browser.

The inclusion of Flash Lite is brilliant. Flash Lite could transform wireless computing, eventually. People are just not realizing its full potential currently.

palmsolo

The HTC Advantage comes with an earlier build version of Opera 8.65. Is there anyone to update this version in ROM with this latest version? Do you still have to pay $24 for the update? If not, this is the reason I don’t like 3rd party apps in ROM like Microsoft used to do with Reader.

SalCan

The Advantage was tested with 8.65. I am not sure about the upgrade thing- that’s a great question though.

Pocketables- nice job on the testing! I tested different sites, but the deltas were just as dramatic as yours.

f_y_i

why no Flash Lite 3.0 ???

Its a new device, Flash Lite 3 is out and supports the new VP6 video codec used in Flash 8+.